National Identities in Jazz: Is There A British Jazz?

The question of whether there are national identities in jazz was the topic of yesterday’s Zoom discussion hosted by Ollie Weindling of The Vortex Jazz Club. These discussions take place every Wednesday, and are an excellent and stimulating way of keeping in touch with the jazz community. Yesterday’s discussion was the 47th of these discussions.

In the discussion there was a very interesting contribution from Emilian Tantana, curator of the Bad Ischl Festival in Austria. He mentioned that he has every year included in his programme a feature on a particular country with an emphasis on the distinctive features of that country’s jazz. He particularly mentioned the Nordic countries, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Estonia, but also Switzerland.

The situation with Norway is clear. The music of groups led by Jan Garbarek, Thomas Strønen, Arve Henriksen (portrayed left) and so many of the groups that the wonderful Hubro label promotes, has a distinctive flavour that draws on the folk music tradition that is so strong in the country. Take, for example, the Cd Fragmentarium with a group led by Erlend Apneseth. Apneseth plays the Hardanger fiddle, a type of violin used extensively in Norwegian folk music, and the instrumentation of the group includes an accordion as well as guitar, keys, drums, flute, jews harp. The music fuses folk, free improv and electronics in a way that, to my mind, is recognisably Norwegian. You can judge for yourself from this track.

There are similar characteristics about jazz in Finland, Sweden and Estonia, and the questions arises of whether it is more valid to talk of Nordic jazz rather than Norwegian jazz, Finnish jazz etc. Moreover, not all jazz in the Nordic countries have these special characteristics. No doubt there are groups in those countries playing bop or hard bop in a totally American way, and there are players such as Paal Nilssen-Love and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten who mostly play in improvised music settings that do not have any specifically national features.

This leads me to another point. Free jazz and improvised music may not have developed national features, but there is little doubt that those styles have developed in Europe in ways that differ from equivalent developments in the USA. This is also true of much contemporary jazz based on composition. One only has to think of the differences between Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet and his European Quartet of the 1970s with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen to see this.

These days certain European cities have become centres for jazz, attracting musicians from across Europe and USA. Berlin and Amsterdam are currently the most significant. In these cities groups are often multi-national. Take for example, bass player Petter Eldh and the various groups he plays in. Petter is Swedish, but is based in Berlin. He plays in two British led bands, Django Bates’ Dearly Belovèd, and Kit Downes’ ENEMY, also with Swiss vocalist Lucia Cadotsch and his own Koma Saxo group. Perhaps the best example is the Punkt Vrt Plastik trio in which Petter joins the Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler and the German drummer Christian Lillinger. I see all these groups as typically+ European jazz groups with an aesthetic that differs from that of American groups. Of course, there is the danger of over-generalisation here, there is always interaction and cross fertilisation between European and American groups, but I believe that my point about the distinctive nature of contemporary European jazz remains valid. Have a listen to a Punkt Vrt Plastik track here.

Germany provides an interesting counter example to that of Norway. It has a very strong scene which is undoubtedly one of the strongest in Europe, but there are hardly any groups that I know of that bring in elements of German folk or classical music. The only example I am aware of is trumpeter Matthias Schriefl whose band Shreefpunk draws on certain German folk and dance music traditions. The German scene is nonetheless a key centre of European jazz.

So this brings us to the UK. Is there such a thing as British jazz? Can jazz in Britain also be divided into Scottish jazz, Welsh jazz and English jazz? I think we can accept all these categories. The trad scene of the 1950s and 1960s had something very British about it with its early commitment to the purity of New Orleans music and its fostering of skiffle music. Early modern jazz players such as Tubby Hayes or Ronnie Scott, great players that they were, did not, however, develop a characteristically British or English style; Stan Tracey did in his extended compositions, such as Under Milk Wood, but I would regard his piano playing as being very much in the style of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. This is not to deny that he was a wonderful and original player. Musicians such as John Surman, John Taylor, Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler, however, did develop from the 1970s onwards a special style that felt somewhat different from that of the American groups of the period.

The music of the European free scene emerged very strongly in Britain, with groups such as The Spontaneous Music Ensemble and AMM and players such as Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, John Stevens having a strong influence on the development of that style across Europe. I think we can regard that scene as having something British (or English) about it, but at the same time it is also clearly a part of a distinctive European jazz. The same point may be made about the fusion scene in Britain with bands such as Ian Carr’s Nucleus setting the pace for the European scene.

These days it is British jazz’s openness to the multicultural and cosmopolitan nature of British cities that is a contributing factor to the Britishness of the music. I’m thinking of the groups such as Kokoroko, Ezra Collective and those led by Shabaka Hutchings and Joe Armon-Jones which draw on Afrobeat and hip hop, but also bands drawing on Indian music such as those led by Arun Ghosh and Sarathy Karwar. In passing, it should be noted that this new fusion does not only take place in London, but has emerged in cities with diverse communities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds.

Coming to the identity of jazz in different UK countries, there are bands in Scotland that draw on Scottish traditional music; here I’m thinking of groups led by Colin Steele, the Bancroft brothers and the Fergus Macreadie Trio. I also hear that saxophonist Matt Carmichael is doing some interesting stuff in this vein. In Wales pianist/composer Huw Warren draws on Welsh music and literature in his compositions.

So is there English jazz? Many of the developments referred to above as part of British jazz mostly take place in English cities, so might be regarded as English jazz. But the confusion and controversies about English identity suggest that it is preferable to talk of British jazz. What does strike me as being essentially English is the music that brings in an ironic and often self-deprecating humour. Here I’m thinking of the music of Loose Tubes, Billy Jenkins and The Melody Four with Lol Coxhill, Tony Coe and Steve Beresford.

I recognise the danger of over-generalisation and over-simplification in this argument. However, jazz has always been a hybrid music and even back in New Orleans early jazz was influenced by many other genres, blues, ragtime, gospel. Its originality and uniqueness are constantly refreshed by its openness to other genres.

I am grateful to Ollie Weindling and to other members of the Zoom group for suggestions and ideas.